Donald is stuck on KP at an air training base. Sergeant Pete gives him a huge pile of potatoes to peel first, then gives him some tests: close your eyes and touch fingers, pin the tail on the airplane. He finally gets sent aloft, only to discover it's a parachute jump. Eventually, both Donald and Pete end up falling with no chutes and a bomb.

Private Duck is a camouflage painter. He paints a giant cannon with some very gaudy colors, until Sergeant Pete explains that the point is to make it so the cannon can't be seen. Donald finds a bucket of experimental invisible paint and makes the cannon disappear. Pete isn't happy with this, and knocks Donald into the paint, then chases him, until he runs into the general. As Pete tries to explain, Donald prods him with a cactus, then goes off to steal some pies. Eventually, Pete goes berserk and starts throwing grenades willy-nilly and gets in more trouble with the general.

Insects have made a playground/carnival out of castoffs, featuring "ice skating" on mirrors. Two love bugs head off to a more private area. But their fun is interrupted when a crow comes by. He bottles up the male bug and chases the female into her home. The male bug escapes in the nick of time, and another bug notices the battle and rallies the rest of the bugs to attack, which they do, using false teeth, an eggbeater, a mousetrap, castor oil, and other things.

Two birds rejoice over the hatching of their three eggs; as they grow, the hatchlings are taught to sing and fly. One falls from the nest and has adventures with a rattlesnake and a beehive before finding his way home.

Donald continually heckles Mickey's magic act, but Mickey bests him at every turn. Donald shoots off a magic pistol that causes all the stage props to fall down on them at the finish of the act.

Mickey is heading out on vacation from Burbank to Pomona, taking the train. The conductor, Pete, won't let him on with Pluto, so he hides Pluto in his suitcase, and tries to hide him all throughout the trip without much luck. But Pete wins when Pluto is hooked by a mail hook. Or does he?

Santa's little helpers must hurry to finish the toys before Christmas Day.

Mickey and friends put on a revue for the orphans. Donald recites nursery rhymes, but the orphans torment him. Horace, Goofy, and Clarabelle do a dance number. Donald tries again. Clara clucks a song while Mickey plays piano (with support from an unseen orchestra). Donald returns, and the orphans finally send a parade of bricks and eggs on balloons over him and use slingshots to drop them on his head.

Mickey guest-directs a radio orchestra. The sponsor loves the rehearsal, but come the actual performance, Goofy drops all the instruments under an elevator, so they sound like toys. The sponsor hates it, but the audience loves it anyway.

Donald's sister Dumbella sends her three sons Huey, Dewey, and Louie to visit their uncle Donald. They prove to be quite a handful for Donald, even with help from his book on child rearing.